AKRON — Joe Bailey knew his partner, Jason Sollars, would be the difference during Sunday’s Doubles Sweeper at Spins Bowl Akron.
“It takes the pressure off of you in doubles when your partner has a good night,” the 41-year-old Doylestown right-hander said. “I knew I just had to keep pace and he would do the rest.”
Sollars showed that Bailey’s confidence was well-founded by shooting 279 in the title match as Bailey and Sollars topped T.J. Charles and Eric Randazzo 493-424 to claim the win.
Sollars’ lone miss — a “marginal miss,” Bailey said later — came in the sixth frame with an 8-pin for the 44-year-old Lodi left-hander and owner of Kolony Bowl in Wadsworth.
Bailey, who shot 214 in the title match, striking on six of his final seven shots, said this was payback for his mistakes during a previous doubles appearance in the Sunday Sweeper.
“Last time, I missed a couple of spares late that cost us,” said Bailey, who bowled his first doubles event with Solars in the Junior Tournament Bowlers Association at age 14. “After that, I owed him a second chance.”
Sollars also brought a ball, a Roto Grip Hyped Pearl, that he didn’t bring the last time the pair bowled at Spins Bowl Akron.
“You just dance with the one you brung kind of thing. That was the money ball today,” said Sollars, who shot 962 during the four-game qualifier to push the pair into the No. 1 seed for the finals. “I used it all day. During practice, I tried the Idol Pearl, but it had a little too much at the midlane, so I put it back in the bag and went to the ball I started with.”
Charles and Randazzo, who bowl in the Northeast Ohio Travel League along with Bailey, have won twice in previous appearances in the sweeper and reached the finals on another occasion.
The pair, who reached the stepladder finals by just one pin, stopped No. 3 seeded Ray Cook and Andrew Smith 467-438 in the opening match. Randazzo, a 31-year-old right-hander who throws thumbless, started the game with six strikes in a row before Charles, a 39-year-old Jackson Township right-hander, took over and threw the final seven strikes.
Cook, a 54-year-old Munroe Falls irght-hander who is due to have left wrist surgery Friday, and Smith, a 29-year-old Garfield Heights lefty, earned their seed also by one pin over Charles and Randazzo.
In the semifinals against 45-year-old Windham right-hander Shane Yesovich and 45-year-old Wadsworth right-hander Scott McIntyre, the No. 2 seeds, it was Charles who again got hot late, striking on seven of his last eight shots while Randazzo left three splits on his last three shots.
But the pair survived with a 425-388 win as Yesovich and McIntyre combined for five splits in the game.
ALL ABOUT MATCHUP
In the title match, both Charles and Randazzo left splits in the fifth frame after Bailey had a 4-6-10 split in the fourth. Meanwhile, Sollars kept striking.
“When the lanes are like this, it’s all about the matchup. I was throwing the ball consistently, but was just trying to find the right ball that gave me the most room to miss with,” said Bailey, who went through five or six balls on the night and two during the title match, finishing with the Motiv Supra Enzo.
Charles and Randazzo combined for four opens in the title match, with Charles stringing five strikes late.
“They broke down a little bit and our carry kind of went away,” said Charles, who finished with the Hammer Vibe. “I had a pocket 7-10 (split) in the middle and missed a 10-pin. Otherwise, we should be right there. Just made a couple of dumb errors.”
Randazzo tried a couple of things in the opening match and in the 10th frame of the semifinals.
“They didn’t work, so I switched balls,” said Randazzo who used a Radical Payback the last game. “The (Track) Sensor was rolling a little early, so I thought I could get some distance down the lane and more reaction in the back.
“It worked, but I just had two bad shots and it cost us a bit.”
Those two bad shots were 4-6-10 and 2-10 splits in the fifth and seventh frames, both resulting in open frames.
Sollars, due to his center duties, doesn’t bowl in tournaments very much.
“But to be able to get out and cash … that’s the idea,” Sollars said. “I’m older now and don’t bowl as much, so the goal is to get a check. I still feel I can be competitive with anybody.”
Bailey agrees, calling Sollars “one of, if not the top, left-hander around … we communicate so well.”
“I didn’t bowl as well as I should have,” said Bailey, who shot 909 during qualifying, “but all I had to do is keep pace with the rest of the righties.”
The strategy resulted in another win for the pair.
NOTEBOOK: The event drew a 21-team field. … Bailey and Sollars, who were fourth after Game 3 of qualifying and just 26 pins into the cut, shot 462 their final game to earn the No. 1 seed by 11 pins over McIntyre and Yesovich. … Cook and Smith had 428 the final game and Charles and Randazzo shot 444 to hold on to the No. 3 and 4 seeds, respectively, by just one pin. Frank Testa and Jordan Norris shot 500 the final game to miss the stepladder by that pin and earn the final cash spot by just three pins over Cooper Smith and Patrick Ritz, who had 466 in Game 4. … Sollars’ 279 in the final match was the tourney’s high game. Colton Riddle had 277 during Game 3 of qualifying. … Testa and Norris had two of only three 500 series rolled during qualifying, with a high of 503. Their problem was a 407 in Game 1. … McIntyre and Yesovich topped the field after Games 1 and 2, with Cook and Smith taking the lead in Game 3.
SUNDAY DOUBLES SWEEPER
(At Spins Bowl Akron)
Championship round
Match 1: T.J. Charles (237)-Eric Randazzo (230) d. Ray Cook (205)-Andrew Smith (233) 467-438. Cook-Smith win $200.
Match 2: Charles (233)-Randazzo (192) d. Shane Yesovich (192)-Scott McIntyre (196) 425-388. Yesovich-McIntyre win $300.
Championship: Joe Bailey (214)-Jason Sollars (279) d. Charles (222)-Randazzo (202) 493-424. Bailey-Sollars win $764; Charles-Randazzo win $360.
Other cashers
(With four-game qualifying pinfall)
5, Frank Testa-Jordan Norris 1,852, $140.
